At this point, we're convinced our studio might qualify as a medical drama.
Every time someone walks in, they’re hobbling, holding something, or waiting on results from a doctor who’s already shrugged them off. It’s like a cast of characters from a hospital show, but with significantly less competence and way more Googling symptoms. It started with Bobby. His ankle still hurts post-surgery, and his foot basically refuses to work. But somehow he's still not the most broken person in the room.
Lunchbox has this mystery pain just to the left of his belly button. Sharp, knocks-the-wind-out-of-you pain. Running aggravates it. Standing up aggravates it. Honestly, existing seems to aggravate it. He’s seen five doctors, FIVE, and every single one of them has given him a different explanation. Pelvic floor issues. Random muscle strain. “Try YouTube stretches.” One even suggested a colonoscopy for fun, like a casual Saturday activity. His most recent adventure was getting an MRI, and you’d think he survived a gladiator battle based on how he described it. Thirty minutes with his arms over his head and suddenly he’s convinced he lost all feeling in his fingers and narrowly escaped the brink of death. The doctor called him in for the results, sat down, and basically said, “Yeah, we got nothing.” No answers. No treatment plan. Not even a suggestion. Just a polite, professional shrug. Lunchbox is now convinced doctors think he’s faking it. Someone brought up Munchausen syndrome. Someone else thought he might be dying of some ultra-rare condition. Meanwhile, he insists he doesn’t want attention, he just wants to go for a run again without feeling like he’s been stabbed.
Then there’s Scuba Steve. If Lunchbox is chaos, Scuba is the real worry. He walked in the other morning and casually mentioned he’d lost twenty pounds. Not from a diet. Not from training for a marathon. Just… life. And pain. And something happening in his stomach that no one can fully agree on. He hasn’t been able to pick up his kids for weeks. There’s a physical bump above his belly button that one doctor pushed back in and said was intestine from a hernia. Another doctor told him that same bump was actually a tumor. Same bump. Two completely different diagnoses. Now he’s headed to a specialist at Vanderbilt to figure out what’s actually going on and whether surgery is next. Of course, Lunchbox immediately tried to get Scuba to ask his specialist about his own belly pain too. Because nothing says friendship like hijacking someone’s tumor appointment.
So that’s where we are: Bobby with a foot that doesn’t work, Lunchbox with a mystery abdominal pain no doctor can explain, and Scuba Steve with a bump that may or may not be a tumor, depending on which hospital parking lot you pull into. We joke about a lot of things on this show, but truly—we’re rooting hard for Scuba. Hoping he gets real answers, real treatment, and some peace of mind. And maybe, just maybe, once he’s healed up, he’ll ask the doctor about Lunchbox too.